The Gift of the Goddess
by runswithskizors
Summary: AU. Cloud is a new student. But what is this big city school really preparing them for? Who is Zack? For that matter, what do the Turks really do? ZackxCloud RenoxRude maybe others.
1. Chapter 1

_Sometimes less is more. I'm going to make this story simple in writing and details, but as deep as i can write. I want to leave some things up to the reader's imagination and their previous knowledge of this game. So I hope you enjoy it. Kind of a new style for me. _

_Enjoy! Review!_

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The building loomed over him like an oppressing bully, intent on breaking his self esteem and degrading what little there was of it into nothing. With an exaggerated sigh the blonde shoulder his bag and walked into the gaping mouth of the hideous monster waiting to strip him of any originality or confidence.

"Name," the woman at the front desk asked in a monotone. Her hair was like curling fire. it reminded him of awful 50s hairstyles.

She looked up at him through flower printed, over the top, hideous granny glasses. "It's Cloud Strife," he said.

She looked back down at her papers and scribbled something on a small slip. she handed it to him without looking up and pointed to the chairs resting against the back wall in front of the desk. "Your counselor will get your schedule, you just wait there."

Without so much as a nod, the blonde did as he was told, sagging into one of the uncomfortable chairs only to be called by some man's voice as soon as he hit the seat.

"Cloud Strife?"

He rose.

"Come this way."

He fallowed.

"So where are you from, Cloud?"

He assumed this man was his counselor. He was being lead back through a maze of hallways to a small room with a computer and a desk. Cloud took a seat in front of the desk as the man sat in the chair opposite him. There were pictures of family tacked to a cork board. One little boy who appeared older than a little girl he was standing next to. Both were smiling. The sun was obviously in the lens of the camera at the time.

"Nibleheim," he replied.

"Ah, Nibleheim," he repeated as if he understood something deeper than that name, "that's a pretty middle-of-no-where town, right?"

Cloud nodded.

"You have that slip Miriam gave you?"

He assumed Miriam was the woman at the front desk. He leaned forward and placed the slip on the desk. The man took it and typed in a code that was printed on it.

"Well, here's your schedule," he said, handing Cloud a piece of paper, "you'll find your locker and lock number on there. Teacher and room numbers. Please have them sign this sheet, to make sure you aren't skipping any classes, no offense, just policy, and bring it back to me at the end of the day."

"I'm sorry, what did you say your name was," Cloud asked.

"I didn't," he replied with a smile, "you can call me Mr. Highwind. Or Cid if you like."

"Thanks Mr. Highwind," he replied and rose from his seat to leave the room and make for his first class.

"No problem," he added, "have a good day. Oh, hey..."

Cloud looked back at him.

"Good luck."

He was going to need it.

----

"Okay, first class is Advanced Physics with Professor Hojo," he said aloud, walking through the empty hallways of the school. It had been about 10 minutes since everyone had suddenly disappeared from the building's traffic ways into separate rooms. He was going to cause a disturbance in Advanced Physics with Professor Hojo. And he hated it.

Finally coming up to the room, he drew in a deep breath and pushed the heavy wooden door open.

Every head in the room instantaneously turned simultaneously to see what had disturbed their learning. Or rather, it seemed, to see what had disturbed their nap. Professor Hojo was a lanky looking man with black hair tied in a ponytail. He was writing some equation on the board while pushing his box framed glasses further up his nose.

"...and that...class...is the formula for momentum, the product of the mass and velocity of an object."

"Hey professor," some kid with spiky red hair spoke up, "we got a new kid."

"Oh," he turned from his old school black chalk board to face the nervous Cloud who was standing by the door, shuffling his feet, feeling awkward. "Well, come on, don't just stand there."

Cloud walked a bit further into the room.

"What's your name," some kid called out.

Cloud froze in his steps, raising his head to try and find the kid who called out to him. He saw a kid with black hair, who looked at least a year or two older than him, elbowing another kid.

"Well, out with it," the professor harassed him.

"Cloud. Cloud Strife."

"What a gay name," some other kid called out.

"Hey, last time I checked, Reno was a place where cross dressers go to pick up guys in random bars," the black haired kid replied. The kid with red hair who first pointed him out lowered his head to his desk. "So if I were you, I'd shut the fuck up."

"Alright, alright, lets settle down," the professor urged, "Cloud, you can go take the empty seat in the back."

Cloud did as he was told. He was sitting next to a girl with long, black, silky hair. She averted her eyes out the window and seemed to pay extra attention to not touching him or anything of his. She was wearing leather gloves, which the blonde found slightly odd. In fact, her whole wardrobe was different. But Cloud shouldn't be one to talk.

He sat there, not listening but at least watching, being bored out of his skull, counting down the minutes until he was out of the classroom of horror. He could feel eyes sometimes boring in to him, watching him, trying to figure out what made him tick. He felt like he was a specimen, a new toy for the student body.

The bell rang. The sound was awful and shrill.

Walking away from the classroom he was suddenly shoved up against a wall. He dropped his bag as his head hit the plaster.

"Don't think anyone's going to come and save you," a voice growled in his ear. The sound was dripping with venom and hate. "This place grinds people like you in to dust. You better watch your back, pretty boy."

Finally his eyes focused. He found that the red head was the one tormenting him.

"Come on Reno," a black kid behind him called, fluidly pushing his sunglasses further up his nose, "let the poor kid go. Zack seemed to take a liking to him today."

"That's why we need to teach him a lesson," he said in a slightly amused tone, "there is no one here who gives a shit. No one is going to save him."

"I'd have to disagree."

Before Cloud could figure out what happened, the red head was thrown a few feet away from him, kneeling on the ground, rubbing his jaw. Cloud turned his head to find the black haired kid who stuck up for him earlier holding a fist slightly in the air. He looked over at Cloud and smiled.

"You son of a _bitch_," Reno shouted, pulling himself off the floor and lunging at the other kid, throwing a fist which successfully made contact with his left cheek. He didn't get blown back very far and managed to step around him a bit and take hold of him in a headlock. The red head struggled.

"Leave him alone."

"Why," Reno hissed.

"Because I said so." He dropped Reno to the ground and grabbed a hold of Cloud's bag, throwing it over his shoulder and walking away. Cloud look at the red head and the black kid who was giving him an amused look. Then he realized the other kid had his bag. He ran after him.

"Hey, wait up," he called, "I need that!"

"I know, I'm just carrying it for you," he replied once Cloud had managed to weave through the other kids to his side. "So where are you headed?"

Cloud opened up his schedule. "Gym with Mr. Wallace."

"Oh, he's a hard ass," he chuckled lightly, "but I think you'll like him. He'll toughen you up so you can kick Reno and Rude's asses."

"What's your name," Cloud asked.

"Zack Fair," he replied, extending a hand. Cloud took it.

"Nice to meet you."

"Pleasure's all mine," Zack replied. "So you're a Sophomore."

Cloud nodded his head, keeping his eyes straight ahead to keep track of where he was going to remember the route for the next day. "What grade are you in?"

"I'm a senior," he replied, "it's pretty weird that a Sophomore got into Advanced Physics. I think that's probably why they were picking on you. Little kid in a big kid's territory. Poor you. Me stickin' up for you probably didn't help much either. Sorry about that."

"No, I appreciate it," Cloud replied, looking at him with a smile.

"Well, here's the gym," Zack said, handing over Cloud's back pack. "I'll see you later."

"Yeah, see ya."

Cloud wasn't so sure how the rest of the day would go from then on, but having just one person who wasn't a complete douche bag talking to him, helping him out, it brightened his outlook considerably.

----

Review!


	2. Chapter 2

_Not much to say about it. I kind of ran out of teacher Ideas. I want a lot of these characters to remain kids in Cloud's new school. Rufus is the Superintendent at the school. But anyway. I hope you enjoy it! _

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Gym was the easiest class by far, but complete and utter hell for any and all participants. Cloud was thrown into a hellish game of floor hockey but an extremely large, buff, black man who told him to call him Mr. Wallace. He looked like he could kick anyone's ass with his hands behind his back. There were a couple of kids he recognized from his first class but one kid in particular stood out. He had long, flowing silver hair down his back and emerald green eyes. They didn't look soothing or beautiful like Cloud usually thought green eyes did, but his looked hard, vicious.

The whole way through the game the silver haired teen just kept glaring at Cloud and it was driving him insane.

Afterwards, the blonde headed back to the locker rooms to change and get Mr. Wallace's signature. He walked up to the man's office and rapped lightly on the solid wooden door.

"Come in," the teacher called out.

Cloud did as he was told and heaved the heavy thing open.

"Ah, new kid, Clyde was it?"

"Cloud," he corrected the man, "uhm...Mr. Highwind told me I needed to get your signature on this?"

The heavy set man reached out a hand and Cloud placed it in his waiting palm. The teacher put on a pair of reading glasses. The blonde thought he look comically out of character. A big, muscular black man sitting behind a desk with reading glasses on? It almost made him chuckle a bit at the sight.

"So, Cid's your dean, eh," he asked, taking off the glasses and searching for a pen. While he was doing so, he gestured to the chair in front of his desk. Cloud groaned inwardly as he realized this was going to take longer than a moment. "Nice guy, you're lucky to get him. I've known Cid for many, many years and if you have any problems," at this, Mr. Wallace had managed to find a black pen and looked back up at Cloud, "any problems at all, you just go to him. Or me. We're really here to help you, you know."

"Thank you, Mr. Wallace," Cloud replied under his breath, not really comfortable in the small chair and stuffy gym office. He waited for a prolonged moment to hear him finish signing the sheet before he look up.

"You can call me Barret if you like," he told the boy, handing him back his slip of paper.

"Thanks," Cloud repeated. He rose from his chair, withdrawing his slip from a watchful Mr. Wallace. An idea had been toying in his mind for a couple of hours. He felt like he needed to ask the man a question just for Mr. Wallace's sake and not his own. He came up with a different question. "Who was that silver haired kid?"

"Oh, the really moody one," Barret replied, almost slightly relieved that the kid had asked him something. He felt like he was doing some sort of unspoken good, "name's Sephiroth. Not the nicest kid around. Watch for him, don't piss him off, ya hear?"

"Yeah, thanks again," Cloud said, high tailing his way directly out of that office and into the open hallways.

But just as he merged with the scarce traffic in the barely used hallway, he was run down by some unseen force from behind. He fell forward, throwing his arms out to catch himself on the carpet, earning a rug burn or two on his arms. His back pack had gone flying a few feet from him.

"Oh my gosh," he heard a girl's voice shout, "I am _so_ sorry! Here, lemme grab your bag!"

From his position on the floor he could see as two white boots came in to view. An arm extending lithely to the ground that had a black sleeve covering from her elbow to her wrist and fanning out like a bell bottom.

Cloud continued to watch until she picked up his back pack and ran over to him. He could only see the bottom part of her shoes. He picked himself up off the floor.

"Here," she said, extending a hand, which he gladly took, and hoisted him back into a standing position. Blushing, she handed him his back, "sorry about that, I was kind of in a hurry. Have to run half way across the school to make it to my next class, much less be on time. I've never seen you around here before, you new?"

"Yeah," Cloud replied, slinging his back pack over his shoulder and extending a hand which she happily accepted, "my name's Cloud Strife, I'm a new sophomore here."

"Wow, really," she shouted, eyes lighting up, "I'm a sophomore here too! Well, I'm not new or anything, I'm Yuffie Kisaragi. Nice to meet you! So what class did you just have? What class are you going to? Where are you from? How old are you?"

"Uhm," Cloud paused for a moment trying to think of all the answers to her questions in order, "Gym with Wallace," he had to pull out his schedule for the next one, "Art with Mr. Valentine, Nibleheim, and I'm 16."

"I just came from gym with Wallace," Yuffie sounded ecstatic, "maybe we were just on different teams and not playing against each other. Plus I didn't know you until now. Oh! I have Art with Valentine next too! I'm only 15 though and i've lived here all my life. Never heard of Nibleheim, where is it? Come on, walk with me, we're going to the same class anyway. So what's Nibleheim?"

Cloud's head was spinning at all the words she managed to get out in just a couple of breaths. Damn, this girl could talk. "Uhm, well, It's pretty much in the middle of no where, only a mako reactor out there. A quiet place."

"Wow, this must be a huge change for you, what coming to live in Midgar and all," she commented. She had no idea how true that statement was, "so have you made any other friends today?"

Cloud thought of Zack. "No," he lied.

"What a shame," she sounded so sympathetic to his situation, and she was really peppy and nice. Though her energy just about wore him out. "well, you can sit with me at lunch, we'll have it right after art class, I mean, that is, if you'll want to."

"Yeah, that'd be great."

"Alright!" She shouted, punching a fist in the air. Cloud jumped at her sudden outburst. "This is gunna be a good semester! I can feel it! Yeah!"

The rest of the day passed by, Mr. Valentine, Vincent he learned was his first name, seemed really dark and distant and quiet. Yuffie had told him not to worry, that he doesn't grade harshly at all. The rest of his classes were pretty much free of a familiar face, unfriendly or not.

He had gotten his slip signed by all of his teachers and left it on Miriam's desk. She only looked up at him through her hideous glasses before returning to her computer screen. It took Cloud literally forever for him to figure out how his lock worked. He was starting to get a little worried too, the hallways were pretty much clearing out, only a couple of laughing kids left here and there, which meant the buses would be leaving soon. And he had to be on one of them.

Finally, he yanked his locker open and stashed a few books inside and slammed it shut. From there he made a mad dash for the front entrance to the horrid building, freedom swelling up in him, he was about ready to burst free, fly away into the sky like a bird.

He barreled his way through the front doors and out onto the side walk where he found the most confusing bus chart he thought he had ever seen. He didn't know how the numbers worked in correlation to it's position on the pavement. It was just then that he realized he didn't know what bus he was supposed to be on.

The engines roared high and Cloud panicked.

He practically ripped his schedule open looking for the number.

It was no where to be seen.

He looked, frantic, as he watched the first few buses leave. He looked around skittishly from left to right to try and find someone to help but only a couple of teenagers were left walking out to their cars. No teachers or anything.

Before he knew it, every single bus had pulled out of the parking lot, leaving the circular area empty save for a few older looking kids walking away from the building at their own pace. Cloud sighed angrily and walked over to one of the brick columns next to the building, punching a fist into it.

"Well, well, well," came a taunting and familiar voice, "if it isn't our little genius from first hour."

Cloud whirled around to find Reno and the black kid, he thought Zack had referred to him as Rude, an asian kid and a blonde girl standing behind the red head. The blonde boy watched as Reno advanced on him, coming closer than the others. A slight smirk was on the teen's face.

"What the hell do _you_ want," Cloud spat at the kid, throwing in as much venom as he could muster. He was tired from a long day of school and was not in the mood to deal with this bully's shit.

"Don't you know," he asked the blonde patronizingly, "don't you know why you were accepted here from _Nibleheim_ of all places? Why you were pulled from the middle of no where to go to one of the best private schools around?"

Cloud looked at his shoes.

"Apparently not," Reno answered for him, "let me enlighten you. This is one of the main schools in Midgar they pull SOLDIERs from. This is basically the training school where they knit out the best. You're pretty much the talk of the whole school, it's common knowledge around here that Cloud Strife was taken from Nibleheim and transfered here due to his amazing success at his old school. You have the most potential of becoming a first class SOLDIER than anyone here."

"What the hell," Cloud shouted, "I've never tried to join SOLDIER! why would they randomly pick me?!"

Reno shrugged, "but you're taking the spotlight away from us Turks. We do the dirty work of the city, cleaning up here and there after SOLDIER's messes. But we will become 1st class. But with you in the way, that's hardly going to happen."

"We've been waiting too long, trying too hard," the blonde girl behind him said in a sweet sounding voice filled with snark.

"If you were out of the way," Rude left the sentence open ended.

"We would have a better shot," Reno finished, advancing towards the blonde, "guess fear is the only way to push you out."

Cloud back up against the stone pillar as the red head and black kid started to advance towards him. He closed his eyes and waited for the oncoming pain, terror and torture to hit him.

What he heard instead of a fist crunching into his jaw, was a loud thud in front of him followed by a softly muttered, "God dammit!"

Tentatively, Cloud opened his eyes. He found Zack towering in front of him, blocking him from Reno and Rude. Both of his arms were extended out to his sides as a protective gesture. The blonde stood there is shock.

"Fuck, what the hell do you want, Zack," Reno shouted.

"I want you to leave the kid alone," he replied.

"No can do."

"Look, it's not his fault he kicks ass," Zack said in a harsh voice, standing up for a cowering Cloud behind him, "he was pulled from Nibleheim due to Rufus's request, and if I recall correctly Rufus is the one helping your sorry asses get in good with the Shinra company. Cloud did nothing wrong but tried his best and that landed him here. You shouldn't pick on him because it's not his fault. If I catch you trying to lay another _finger_ on this kid, I swear to god your head is going straight up your ass."

Zack relaxed from his defensive position and turned to face Cloud. He smiled lightly at him and said, "Let's go."

Before Cloud could even nod, Reno kicked Zack's legs out from underneath him, sending him crashing to the ground, knocking his head on the pavement.

The blonde boy watched in horror as Reno made a dive for the recovering Zack.

He plunged at the red head, punching him square in the face and knocking him back a few feet away from Zack. The red head managed to finally pick himself up as Cloud helped up the raven haired senior.

Once the Turks had left, Zack was able to stand up right again, "Thanks for that. I guess I should stop trying to protect you, you can take care of yourself."

Cloud chuckled a little, "yeah, I can, but I like that you care."

"You got a ride home?"

"The bus."

Zack looked out at the bus lot, "Want a lift?"

----

_You should all review. They make people soooo happy. If every person who read a story reviewed that story, the world would be a much happier place. _

_So! Some ZackxCloud moment awaiting in the car ride home? I think so. ;)_


	3. Chapter 3

Zack drove a truck.

It seemed to fit his personality quiet well. It was sturdy, speckled with dirt in the winter season, a dark blue color but the inside was clean, well taken care of, personalized to look almost like a mini home. Madri gras beads were hanging from the rear view mirror, a half empty coke can in the cup holder, a CD filer attached to the sun visor.

The radio played softly in the back ground.

"So how was your first day, Cloud?"

The teen moved his gaze from the dreary scenery passing by out the window to look at the raven haired man. It didn't feel like a genuine question. "It was okay."

Zack threw the boy a disappointed glance at that answer. "Oh come on, I'm genuinely interested in how your day was and you give me this 'it was okay' crap?"

Cloud shrugged, "What do you want to know?"

"Did you make any friends?"

The blonde thought for a moment. "Yeah, I did. A girl named Yuffie. She's really nice, but overly talkative. It's tiring just listening to her."

Zack let out a loud chuckle at this, throwing the boy an amused grin. "So Yuffie latched on to you, huh? She _is _quiet a handful."

"She your girlfriend," Cloud asked teasingly, but there was a hint of underlying seriousness in his tone, his eyes brows slightly knitting together. When there was no immediate response the blonde turned his head to gaze back out the window.

It wasn't until Cloud felt a slight tremor in his seat that he understood why Zack hadn't responded immediately. He was laughing silently to himself.

"Cloud...there is one person on earth I could never date, and that would be Yuffie," he replied, a grin plastered on his face, "I'd be dead within the week."

The blonde punched the older's arm lightly, playfully, "Don't be such a jerk."

Zack shrugged, "merely stating the truth."

"Well it was mean."

The older teen threw the kid a serious stare for a fraction of a second before looking back at the road. "You have a girlfriend?"

Cloud gave him an amused look, "I just moved here today."

The raven haired teen rolled his eyes, "I meant at your old school."

"Oh," the blonde responded, looking back out his window, propping his chin up with his hand. He tried to lose himself in the leafless, snow covered trees as a couple of faces flashed through his mind, none of them he would have called girlfriends, "no, I didn't really take a liking to girls."

"What about guys?"

The blonde gave him a death glare, "You're kidding right?"

Zack's grin grew on his face but didn't look at the kid, "Hey, I won't judge you."

Cloud let out a dramatic sigh, shaking his head slightly at the crazy teen's antics, not even bothering to pay any further attention to him as they drove home. Zack, however, wasn't going to let it go.

"You didn't answer my question."

"Maybe I don't want to," Cloud replied with a bit of an edge to his voice.

Zack chuckled, "Because you're gay?"

"Why would that be a bad thing?"

"I'm not saying it is," the older replied slyly, "I'm merely asserting my assumption that you are self conscious about the issue of sexuality because you might have one that isn't looked upon with a smile in our society. Maybe you crave to be generally accepted. I, for one, don't care if you're gay."

Cloud sat there in shock, slowly turning his head to give the man a wide stare, jaw hanging open. Zack cast him glances every now and then, becoming slightly unnerved by his outrageously startled expression.

"What," he finally demanded, uncomfortable with that gaze.

"I didn't know you had a vocabulary beyond two syllable words," Cloud finally replied, unable to keep the smirk off his face or out of his voice, his eyes glimmering with mischief.

The older teen lightly punched the blonde's arm this time in mild amusement. Cloud tried to swerve to avoid it but found it basically impossible to avoid the fist. "No sense of humor," the blonde finally said when Zack turned back to the road.

"Oh," he asked the kid, "and what do you do for fun besides picking on the people who save your sorry ass?"

Cloud merely shrugged, keeping his expression bored and distant as he said, "I don't know what there is to do around here. Waiting for someone to offer me a tour."

Zack pulled down the street the blonde had mentioned he lived on. The ride was slowly but surely coming to a close. It ended too quickly, Cloud thought, not even having time to really get to know this weird kid a little better. "Well...how 'bout I take you out for a night on the town some day."

Cloud rolled his eyes dramatically over to the raven haired man. He said in a completely, monotonously sarcastic tone, "Your complexity of this plan is making my head spin."

Zack chuckled, pulling into the driveway of the number the blonde mentioned he lived at. "Well, how about once you get used to things here, meet some more people. If someone else doesn't show you the nightlife of Midgar, my offer's still on the table."

"Some random day?"

"You got it."

The blonde pondered this for a moment, amusement sparkling in the older teen's shockingly bright blue eyes. Finally, he gave him a slight smirk. "Okay then, some day I might take you up on that."

"Then it's a date."

"Maybe," Cloud reiterated.

"Then it's maybe a date." Zack gave the blonde a wide grin as the latter slung his back pack over his shoulder and hopped out of the truck. With a genuine smile and a small shake of his head, the kid shut the door behind him and made his way to his front door.

He looked back to watch Zack drive away.

----

_heh heh, this is your scene with those two. It's short and sweet. Ack I'm so stressed about my grades! i have an impending feeling that im going to be grounded shortly...O.o Review!_


	4. Chapter 4

"So, you wanna go out sometime this weekend?"

Cloud threw the perpetually energetic brunette an incredulous look at what she had just asked him. As the realization finally set in, Yuffie turned a bright red color under his deep blue gaze. Her hand flew to her mouth, floundering for words, desperately grasping at anything to say.

"N-no! T-that's not what...I mean...I meant...I've only known you for, like, a week," She shouted out, her blush somehow turning an even darker shade of ruby red. "I-I meant as...as _friends_, you know! Like, I could show you the town and stuff! I didn't...I didn't mean a _date_ date if _that's_ what you were thinking! I really meant to say-"

Cloud chuckled lightly as his expression softened, holding up a hand to stop the poor girl from flushing until all the blood left the rest of her body to her face. He smiled gently at her and replied, "It's okay, I know what you meant. But uh...actually...I already have an offer to do just that this weekend with someone. Sorry."

"Oh, It's alright," Yuffie replied, lowering her head and averting her eyes, playing with a loose thread on her shirt. Cloud immediately felt bad for how he had just treated poor little Yuffie. He felt like maybe she really was asking him on a date and he just utterly shot her down, with another person no less.

Cloud picked up his fork and began picking at his cafeteria food, not really interested in eating it anymore.

"Well, where are you going," Yuffie finally asked, breaking the blonde out of his reverie.

Cloud looked up at the brunette with a confused expression on his face. Where were they going? Hell, Cloud didn't even know if they were actually even going to go out, maybe he was busy tonight? Knowing him, he'd probably surprise Cloud. The blonde gave the small girl a shrug of his shoulder and replied, "I don't really know, I think it's going to be a secret."

A small smile crept up on Yuffie's face as her eyes lit up slightly as that smile soon turned into one of mischief. "You're going out with Zack, aren't you?"

Cloud's heart beat picked up a bit and he could feel his face flushing a more than likely unpleasant shade of red, giving away his embarrassment. He dropped the plastic fork to the plastic tray and held his hands up in a defensive manner, shaking his head vigorously. "N-no, It's nothing like that! We're not _going out_!"

Yuffie chuckled at his nervousness. "Hehe, no, no I know what you meant, but I wouldn't be surprised if he tried to..." her eye brows rose in a suggestive manner, leaning in closely across the table to get into the blonde's face. "..._seduce_ you in any way shape or form."

He raised his hand nonchalantly and, with a now composed expression, flicked the girl in the forehead. She settled back into her seat, rubbing her forehead and giving the blonde a dirty look.

"Meanie."

"Pervert."

"Can't argue with that," she replied with a wide grin on her face.

----

"Fuck," the blonde cursed, stomping his foot heavily on the ground, a hideous scowl twisting his features into a mask of utter frustration. "Not again, goddammit!"

He watched in complete fury as his big, yellow ride home steadily headed down the street and out of sight of the front doors the school, where he now stood. His father wouldn't be home until after work at around 6 o'clock, so he was pretty much stuck there until then.

With a heavy sigh, he relaxed and let go of his anger, letting it chase after the bus. He pinched the bridge of his nose as he took a series of deep breaths, trying to relieve his now pounding headache. Boy was his father going to be _pissed_.

"Okay, now I think you're just _trying_ to mooch rides off of me."

Cloud spun on his heel at the familiar voice, finding the raven haired teen standing in front of him, blue eyes boring into his, hand on his hip, an evil little smirk playing along the corners of his mouth. Zack was holding his keys in his other hand, fiddling with them, their metal clinking was the only thing that broke the deafening silence between them despite the traffic noises pouring around them.

"I-I...I didn't meant to..." He was shocked to say the least. Zack hadn't been there in first hour to walk him to the gym and he hadn't seen him t any other interval during the day. To be honest, it had pretty much crushed his hopes of having a good day. He couldn't exactly pin point why. So now here he was, standing in front of him like God's good grace to Cloud.

Zack chuckled lightly as he watched the younger teen flounder for words for the second time that day. "Please, don't get _too _excited," he said sarcastically. "Look's like you need me once again."

Cloud managed to recompose himself and scoffed, trying to preserve what little pride he had after just looking like a gasping fish in front of Zack, turning his back on the raven haired teen and walking forward. "I can get home just fine by myself."

As cloud walked away Zack ran to catch up with him, walking side by side with the still flustered blonde. "Oh yeah? You got a car?"

"No, duh," he replied.

"Got another friend with a car who hasn't left the school yet?"

"Well...no..."

"Got someone coming to pick you up right this moment?"

"No."

Zack grinned as Cloud continued to fume silently while he continued walking to nowhere. "There you go. You've got no other choice but me left. Haha, I'm starting to feel like you honestly do this on purpose just to see me more."

"Don't flatter yourself," was all he said as he looked up into the distant sky that was already beginning to have tell tale signs of a setting sun. He had his chores to do back at home, not to mention making dinner and doing his homework, and it would only further irritate his exhausted father if he had to come and pick him up from school. He could always walk home, but at that rate he would get home later than his father.

The only option left was to get a ride from the cocky older teen.

"Well, come on," Zack finally said after they had continued walking away from the school for a couple of moments in awkward silence, thoughts rushing through the blonde's head about how to get home...about what he had told Yuffie not 4 hours ago... He felt self concious about actually asking him to take him out because he was still confused about why he felt so down when Zack wasn't there first hour.

"Hm?"

"Well, you have no other option but me if you want to get home without having to be a burden on someone's shoulders-"

"I'll be a burden on yours," Cloud interrupted, folding his arms over his chest and looking particularly glum.

"-so I would be delighted to have the honors of taking you home again," he finished as if Cloud hadn't interrupted him, a small smile playing along the edge of his mouth as he stopped dead in his tracks. Cloud stopped just a few feet ahead of him. The older teen held out his arm in a very 1800s fashion, his posture erect, his expression _beyond_ amused. "Well, may I have the privilege of courting you this evening?"

A blush was spreading like wild fire across the blonde's face, eye brows raising in mild amusement as he retorted, "It's still daylight, my good sir."

"Well..." Zack began to chew on his bottom lip, thinking up a solution to their dilema, until a smile lit up his features once again. "Have you gotten anyone to offer you a good romp around the town or to take you to a delight ice cream social for the evening?"

"Ah, that offer I have not yet received as of this moment," Cloud replied, keeping up his little game of talking like a 19th century business man, "but were some delightful camp to offer me such an evening I feel that I would simply _have_ to respond in the affirmative."

"Well then, that being the case," Zack gave the blonde boy a huge grin, dropping his prim demeanor and stared him straight in the eyes, "Would you humor me for the evening?"

Cloud stood there for a while, seemingly mulling over the concept, even though he knew what his response was going to be from the moment he saw Zack. He didn't understand why he felt the need to stall in his answer. Finally, he lifted his blue gaze from his shoes to meet the worried expression on Zack's face. He was truly anxious for his answer, acting just like he was asking out a girl in middle school.

"Yeah, sure," Cloud finally replied, throwing the older teen a sincere smile to relax him a bit, "I don't see what harm this could cause."

Zack's shoulders slumped and Cloud rose an eyebrow as he watched him visibly relax, a smirk gracing his features, replacing his worried expression. "Oh trust me, Cloud," he said nonchalantly, sauntering up to the blonde boy and throwing his arm over his shoulder, wheeling him towards the older teen's truck, "we are going to raise more hell than hellraiser."

----

"Uhm...Dad?"

Cloud's father looked up from the couple of papers he was reading for work and threw his son a curious look. Cloud was elbow deep in dishwater, absentmindedly running a sponge along one of their plates.

"Can...can I go out tonight?"

Cloud didn't have the courage to even look up and face his father, knowing he more than likely raising his eyebrows in complete and utter surprise at his request. An uncomfortable knot was forming in his throat, his stomach doing daring backflips, making him a bit woozy.

He heard his father put down his papers.

"When?"

That was _not_ the word he had been expecting. In his surprise, Cloud lifted his blue gaze to find his father giving him a completely leveled look of curiosity. The blonde boy blinked a few times before finally letting the words stumble out of his mouth, "U-uhm..He'll be here in about 15 minutes...If that's okay?"

With a raised eyebrow his father asked, "He?"

Cloud nodded, "His name is Zack, he's in my Advanced Physics class and we're just going to go hang out some place, he's going to show me what there is to do in Midgar, ya know, me being the new kid and everything. He's just trying to be nice."

"Ah," he rubbed his chin in thought, "any girls going out with you two?"

Cloud shook his head, "No, It's just us."

"Good," his father drummed his fingers on the kitchen table in thought as Cloud was taken off guard by his apparent acceptance of this not being a date. "It's too soon for you to start going out with girls, we just moved here, ya know? It's good that you're making friends."

His father was nodding in approval of what he had just said.

"So when will you be back?"

"Uhm," This is what Cloud was actually afraid of, "a-around midnight?"

"Okay."

He dropped the plate he was washing and it fell into the sink with a loud _clang_. His eyes widened complete shock, mouth hanging open, facing his father from across the counter, searching his eyes for some hint of sarcasm. There was none.

Cloud's father chuckled lightly at his son's expression and shook his head in equal disbelief, "You thought I wasn't going to let you go out? You think I'm that much of a prick? Come on, Cloud, I may be a slight hard ass-"

"That's the understatement of the year," he grummbled once he had finally composed himself.

For the second time that day, he just kept talking without acknowledging what his son had said. "-but I remember what It was like to be a teenager, especially at your age with friends who can drive. I'm not going to stop you from hanging out with your friends. You go out and have fun tonight okay?"

The blonde boy nodded slowly, still feeling like this was an order, and tentatively returned to the dish he dropped.

"I want your chores and your homework done before you go _anywhere_," He heard his father say from the kitchen table, that usual hard tone was back in action. Cloud gave a small smile down into the dish water.

"Homework's done, all I have to do are the dishes," He replied.

His father nodded, "Well...alright. Then remember, having fun, I don't want you to come home tonight unless you did."

Cloud chuckled lightly as he began to dry the plate he was working on, "So would that mean you'd kick me out on the street for the night or do you want me to sleep over at Zack's?"

"Whatever gets you to have fun," Cloud could hear the smile in his dad's voice as he shuffled through a bunch more papers, the scritching sound of a pen on paper became a rapid noise in the back ground. "It's friday, so I really couldn't care less if you sleep on the lawn or in a bed."

"That's cruel," Cloud commented, draining the dish water from the sink and patting his hands dry on the towel, turning to give his father a leveled glare. "you wouldn't _really_ lock me out of my own house."

At that, he put down his papers and took off his reading glasses, giving his son the most incredulous look possible. "I seem to have forgotten...who pays the bills around here?"

Cloud put a hand on his hip and retorted, "Who buys the food? Who makes you dinner? Who cleans up the dinner? Who cleans the house? Face it Dad, without me, this place would fall apart."

"Yeah, yeah," he waved a hand dismissively in Cloud's direction, putting on his glasses and continuing with his extra work.

It was just then that the door bell rang.

"I'll get it!"

Cloud threw the towel onto the counter and ran off to greet the person at the front door. He wrenched the wooden thing open, a smile lighting up the older teen's face as he saw the blond standing there haphazardly in the door way. Excitement coursed through Cloud as he realized this was the first time Zack had actually seen the inside of his house. He took a moment to take in Zack's appearance, looking him up and down. He was wearing a pair of jeans, a black t-shirt with an elegant silver pattern scrawled across the front; a black, collared jack on his shoulders. His hair looked elegantly disheveled, his blue eyes were sparkling.

"You ready?"

Cloud gave the older teen a curt nod and moved to exit the door with him, shouting over his shoulder, "Hey Dad, we're leaving."

"Wait a 'sec!"

Cloud furrowed his brows together and moved back into the kitchen, Zack staying firmly by the door, while he rounded the corner to see his dad giving him a completely expressionless stare, glasses off. "Yeah?"

"Well, do I get to meet this 'Zack' or what?" A small smile was tugging at the corner of his lips.

The blonde, without thinking, nodded to his father and replied, "Yeah, sure. Zack?"

"Hm," He called from the doorway.

"Come on in."

A sarcastic smirk lit his face, "Are you sure I am worthy enough to have my peasant feet step onto such holy ground? Are my eyes trained enough to take in such a forbidden sight that is the inside of your house?"

Cloud threw him a glare, "Shut up and get your ass in here."

"Tsk, tsk," Zack said condescendingly, "Swearing at me will only get you kicked out of my car onto the road side, I hope you know." As the older teen walked into the house, taking in the surroundings as he entered the kitchen, he finally understood why Cloud had been inviting him into the establishment in the first place.

An amused smile was on Cloud's father's face, eyebrows raised. Zack's own eyes widened with shock for just a small moment before composing himself and smiling a genuine smile. He raised a hand at the man and said, "Hey, nice to meet ya."

"So I heard you're taking my son our for a night on the town," He said from his chair, amusement evident in his tone for some reason they couldn't place. "Well I just want to lay out a couple of ground rules first. Number one; no kissing or groping on the first date-"

"_Dad!_" Cloud groaned, smacking his hand his face, now understanding why his dad was entertained by meeting his friend. Zack, however, was laughing his head off at the sheer boldness of his father's comment.

"-rule number two," He went on, obviously trying to suppress a laugh, "I want him home by midnight. That is, unless, rule number three comes into play, which is I don't want him back unless he has fun tonight. You can make him sleep in a public park for all I care, but I don't want him coming back grumbling about something or other. Can you do this for me, Zack?"

"Yes sir," He replied, a wide grin on his face, "I will make sure he has the best damn night of his life."

Cloud's father chuckled and replied, "While I highly doubt that, but good luck to ya!"

"We're leaving," the blonde groaned, grabbing the older's arm and leading him to the door, "_now_."

"See ya later Mr. Strife," Zack called out behind him.

"Bye you two!"

----

"That was utter torture."

"That was funny as all hell."

"You have a sick sense of humor, you know that?"

"And you don't have one at all! I just might have to keep you tonight if you don't have any fun."

At that last comment all blood left any other part of Cloud's body headed straight for his cheeks. He was only thankful that Zack had to keep his eyes on the road and that it had already gotten dark outside. They had been driving for a good ten minutes in pretty much utter silence, save for the radio playing softly in the background, as Cloud fumed silently over the horrific incident that he had just witnessed.

With a heavy sigh the blonde shifted his gaze over to the older teen driving the car, "So where are we going?"

"That, my dear friend, is a surprise," he said coyly, turning into the left hand lane to pass by a bunch of people, obviously breaking the speed limit. Zack was a reckless driver to say the least.

"Can I have a hint?"

"Nope."

The blonde furrowed his eyebrows, glaring at the raven haired teen, "Why not?"

"Because," He replied, taking an exit off the highway, "you're too clever, you'd figure it out right away. Now sit there and shut up about where we're going, you'll find out when we get there."

Cloud threw him a look. "We're going to a club, aren't we?"

"You _suck_!" Zack shouted, giving the blonde a quick but completely incredulous look. mouth hanging open. "You are _unbelievable. _You already guessed where we were going and I didn't even give you a hint. You, Mr. Cloud Strife, utterly suck."

"You're just jealous," The blonde said with a smirk, "besides, you _are_ showing me the night life of Midgar and where else do you take someone to see that besides a club? It was pretty obvious from the beginning."

"Well...It's more like a concert that's taking place at a club," Zack retorted, "I still win on some level."

"Whatever cries you to sleep at night," Cloud replied, turning his head and watching the black scenery fly by his window. He had a weird feeling about tonight...something was going to happen, he was positive about that, but he couldn't help but think it wasn't going to be a good thing.

* * *

Hope you liked it. Review.


	5. Chapter 5

_Well i originally wrote this as one giant, long chapter with a lot of things happening...but i tempted to completely rewrite it all. So i split it up from what i like and what i dont like. Here's what i like._

_Hope you enjoy it. R&R._

* * *

The music pulsated through the building as if it were alive, swallowing all the sweaty teenagers whole inside it's gigantic, dark mouth. There were couches here and there with drunk or stoned people lying haphazardly off the sides of them, leading Cloud to think that this was more of a club than a concert like Zack had said.

There was an open bar with a man with almost pale orange looking hair in a red trench coat serving drinks. Zack walked through the crowd of dancing people, dragging Cloud along by his wrist as he lead the blonde boy to the bar. Once there, he leaned over and shouted above to the music to the man, "Hey Genesis, can I get two beers over here?"

Genesis looked up from the drink he was making to throw Zack a look that Cloud didn't have time to decipher before he threw the drink down the bar where a man caught it as it sloshed a bit over the side. Genesis walked over to Zack and raised an eyebrow, staring at the blonde boy, "Who's the friend?"

"Name's Cloud," Zack replied, inclining his head towards said blonde who shrunk away from Genesis's probing gaze.

"Look out for this one, Cloud," Genesis finally said, withdrawing two bottles from under the counter, popping the tops open as he slid them over to Zack, "he's a bit of a wild card. Don't let him get to you though."

"Alright, alright, we don't need a 'talk'," Zack made air quotes around the word before pinking up the bottles and handing one over to Cloud, "you're not my mother and I think we're mature enough."

"Sure you are," the orange haired man replied, "don't have too much fun, you two."

With that, they departed from the bar, Zack dragging Cloud over to a table where they sat down across from each other, waiting for the band they were supposed to be here for to come on to the stage. A warm up band was apparently playing them through a hardcore metal song that looked as if it would dissolve into a mosh pit at any minute.

"Hey, I gatta go talk to someone really quick, you think you can handle things alone," Zack asked, worry evident on his face. It only made Cloud want to prove himself more to the older teen.

He nodded his head and rolled his eyes, taking a swig of his beer. Zack smirked at him before ruffling his blonde hair and walking away. He was left in the middle of this crowded club with all these sweaty teenagers rubbing their bodies against each other. He was itching to join in, but refused to degrade himself like that. He was Cloud Strife, he was the good child, he did nothing wrong like this...right? But then why was he drinking?

"Hey sexy," a voice whispered in his hair, hot breath tickling him, "a beer is pretty weak, can I buy you something a little more...flavorful?"

He turned around to find some stranger pressing himself against his back, swaying a bit to the music. The man was pretty non-desrcript, nothing special about him. Brown hair, jeans, a t-shirt. Nothing screamed bad boy so Cloud didn't see any harm. He let the man drag him away to the counter once again where he shouted to Genesis, "Hey, man, get me something a little strong, huh? I gatta loosen someone up."

Genesis didn't see Cloud, only chuckled and mixed a drink with what appeared to be 3 bottles. He slid the purple-ish looking mixture over to the stranger who swiped his hand over the top of the glass in a flourishing little gesture before grabbing the side and pushing it into Cloud's hands.

With the breath of pure alcohol, he whispered in his face, "_Drink_."

The blonde did just that. He took a pretty large gulp before realizing this was just pure, hard alcohol. Trying not to choke a bit on it, he held it in his mouth for a minute before slowly letting it down his throat little by little. It tasted sweet and sultry and so damn _good_.

Cloud took another sip before being lead away into the thickening crowd by the stranger once again. He realized the main band had finally set up on stage. They introduced themselves rather quickly, Cloud thought, and began to play through a song that sounded like the essence of temptation.

Cloud was beginning to feel a little bit...different. It was hot...almost an unbearable heat...god it was _hot_. His limbs were itching to move. "_Dance with me_." That whisper was all he needed to get his body moving. He melted in with the rest of the sweaty crowd, pulsing right along with them. His body ached for contact as his skin rubbed against everyone else's. His fingers yearned to touch, his mouth was dying to latch on to something. He looked down in his hand and realized his drink was gone...when had that happened?

The lights were flashing green and purple in his eyes, mixing everything together in rays of light and energy. He was pure energy mixing with everyone else's pure energy. He felt so lucid though, not like he was tripping, but like he was finally able to see everything so clearly. It was so clear though, that it all melted together. He didn't understand how that worked though. Every face was different yet they were all the same person.

The stranger was gone as well and Cloud was left in the middle of the room with nothing to do but dance with everyone else. He felt warm hands on his hips and didn't even have the state of mind to push them away. He felt someone groping him..._hard_. It was so delicious, it felt utterly _amazing_ to him. His thoughts were carefree and roaming, he didn't give a damn what anyone else thought about him right now, he was enjoying himself, just like his father told him to.

The band played him through 2 songs, finally starting their third as he loosened up to everything and everyone around him. He was still so hot though. The contact he was getting was not enough, he wanted...no. He _needed_ more.

He tried to clear his head, however, tried to remember where this had started, how this had happened all so quickly...where did this feeling begin and the normalcy end? He felt like he was floating above everyone else, but tethered quiet annoyingly to the earth by his body.

He just wanted to _fly_!

_**Zack.**_

Cloud's eyes sprung open, not even realizing he had them closed, and looked around the crowd for the reason he was even here in the first place. He slithered away from everyone, finally breaking free from the endless sea of sweaty bodies.

He tried to find the table he had been sitting at previously, but couldn't seem to remember where it was located in the club. He milled around a bit, trying to steady his obvious stagger by holding on to the tables and couches he passed by. he looked down at the passed out people on the cushions and realized...he was no better than them.

He felt so low, so degraded, so dirty, disgusting and awful! The need to be touched reared up high inside of him. He was just about to throw up, hunching down a bit, when he suddenly felt hands up his shoulders, straightening him back up. Looking over his shoulder, Cloud found the worried face of the person he had been searching for. Crystal blue eyes were staring at him in concern.

"_Zack_," he breathed, turning around and latching on to his shirt front. He inhaled deeply through his nose, loving the scent of his friend.

A warm hand was on his back, holding Cloud closer to him as he talked urgently into the blonde's ear. "Where the holy _hell_ have you been? I turn around for not even 5 minutes and suddenly I loose you for like 40? God, you scared the living shit out of me, Cloud! What happened?"

Most of the words went in one ear and out the other. The vibrations traveling through Cloud from his friend's voice were so utterly pleasurable he had to bite back a moan. "I was...There was this man...he gave me a drink..."

"_Fuck_!" Zack shouted, running a frustrated hand through his black hair before looking down at the blonde boy who was an utter mess and clinging to him desperately. "Alright Cloud, well, we can't very well take you home now because if you do I'll get all the blame for it...not like It isn't my fault. Shit, I should've told you not to accept drinks from strangers...but anyway, we should get you over to my house, I guess. Parents are gone for the weekend and my little sister won't mind so I guess..."

"I'm going home with you," Cloud asked, hopes high.

Zack nodded and Cloud ran his hands greedily up the black haired teen's sides. The older one shuddered at his touches, carefully prying the blonde's hands free and forcing him to stand up right. "You...really don't want to do that, Cloud."

"Yes, I do," he whispered, eyes trained intensely on his friend. The need for contact twitched inside of him again as he was face to face with the older beauty.

Cloud pressed his lips to Zack's.

His hands rushed to hold the older's face securely to his, desperately moving his lips against those soft, delicious ones under his. Zack, trying to recover from his complete shock, grabbed on to Cloud's hands and wrenched them free from his face. He broke the kiss with the blonde boy, giving him a confused look.

"God dammit, Cloud," he shouted, forcefully moving the boy's arms to his sides and pinning them there, a stern look on his face. "Not here, not now...not like _this_."

Cloud cocked his head in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Zack sighed and squeezed his eyes shut before wrenching them open once again to stare into the crystal blue orbs of his friend. "I...I-"

"Your confusion is cute," Cloud whispered seductively, trying to move closer to Zack, but he was not having any of it. He pushed the blonde boy back once again so that they were at least 6 inches away from each other. The black haired teen could still feel that hot breath wafting over his face...tempting. Oh so tempting.

"I don't want this, Cloud," he said sternly, mouth pressed in to a grim line, "not like this. I don't want you tripping so hard that you don't even remember your own name."

"Cloud Strife."

"What," Zack asked, confused now.

"I remember my name," the blonde said defiantly, "I'm more clear headed now than I ever have been. All this time I've been here you've been floating around in my mind and I couldn't understand why. Now I do." Cloud's epiphany suddenly rang clearly through his body and mind, his blue eyes snapping wide open as everything seemed to fall in to place. "I want you, Zack."

Said teen had to suppress a groan from hearing this. The blonde was completely disheveled, making him look all the more seductive, and he was telling him he wanted him. This was not how he had imagined a confession of love to look. "Cloud, you don't know what you're saying, you were slipped something. So we'll just take you back home and in the morning you won't remember any of this and you'll be back to good ol' Cloud."

Zack threw the blonde's arm around his shoulder, even though he tried to make a move at that moment, and hauled the boy outside to his car. He managed to get him seat belted into the front seat and Zack was driving away from the club in utter silence.

He occasionally looked over at the blonde to see if he had fallen asleep, but he was wide awake for the entire ride.


End file.
